Elizabeth Drake, 38, was charged with one count of intentionally subjecting an individual at risk to abuse – causing bodily harm. (Photo courtesy: Brown County Jail)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A woman who failed to take care of her mother – who was found covered in bedsores, urine, and bug droppings – was sentenced Monday to a year in prison.
Elizabeth Drake, 40, pleaded no contest to intentionally subjecting an individual at risk to abuse, and resisting an officer. She was also convicted of a citation for unsanitary conditions for a pet.
In addition to the year in prison, Judge Tammy Jo Hock placed Drake on extended supervision for three years. A nine-month jail sentence for the obstruction charge will be served after the prison term. Drake was also ordered not to have any contact with her mother.
Before the sentence was imposed, Drake declined her opportunity to address the court.
According to the complaint, police were called to a home on Vroman Street in Green Bay after a delivery driver said she could hear a woman inside calling for help.
When the officer arrived, “he immediately noticed a strong odor of animal, garbage, urine, and feces. There was hardly a path to walk due to all of the garbage on the floor. Officer Moore also observed bugs all over the home,” the complaint states.
He went into the room of Drake’s mother, identified in the complaint by her initials, KAD. She was 72 years old at the time.
“KAD’s room was full of clothes, garbage, used toilet paper, and used diapers to the point that there was not a safe path to walk from the door to her side of the bed. KAD’s bedsheets were dark brown, and bugs were seen all over her and her bed. The carpet appeared to be caked down possibly with urine and feces. KAD was yelling for help and it took a while for her to believe that the officers were really people and real police officers. When rescue carried KAD out of the house, Officer Moore saw that she had bed sores, urine material stuck to her hair, and what looked to be bug droppings on her,” the complaint states.
“KAD said Elizabeth is supposed to take care of her and move her due to KAD not being able to move. KAD stated about a year ago she had broken her leg, which made it hard for KAD to move without help from another person. KAD indicated that she had not moved from that bed in at least a year and she didn’t get help from Elizabeth even when KAD yelled for help,” the complaint goes on to say.
Drake characterized the conditions differently, however.
Elizabeth stated that her mom chose to live in the condition her room was in even though her mom couldn’t take care of herself and the whole home was in the same type of condition,” the complaint states. “Elizabeth stated that she ignores her mom’s cries for help due to it bugging her and stopping her from being able to do what she wants, which typically meant her being on her computer. Elizabeth stated that she had been thinking about adding sound proofing material at least to KAD’s window to drown out her yelling for help. Elizabeth indicated she was happy this happened so that her mother could be taken out of her life and she could continue doing whatever she wanted to do.
At the hospital, nurses said the mother had bed sores on her buttocks, back, legs and stomach.
“KAD could not remember the last time she was out of bed, the last time she took a shower or used the bathroom in the toilet, or the last time she was at the doctors,” the complaint states.
Her previous attorney confirmed that Drake had administered the Facebook page “Green Bay Crime Reports – Police, Fire, and Rescue” which had 164,000 followers.
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